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Third Battle of Ypres

This was a campaign fought between July and November 1917 and is often referred to as the Battle of Passchendaele, a village to the north-east of Ypres which was finally captured in November. It was an attempt by the British to break out of the Ypres salient and capture the higher ground to the south and the east from which the enemy had been able to dominate the salient. It began well but two important factors weighed against them. First was the weather. The summer of 1917 turned out to be one of the the wettest on record and soon the battlefield was reduced to a morass of mud which made progress very difficult, if not impossible in places. The second was the defensive arrangements of concrete blockhouses and machine gun posts providing inter-locking fire that the Germans had constructed and which were extremely difficult and costly to counter. For four months this epic struggle continued by the end of which the salient had been greatly expanded in size but the vital break out had not been achieved.

The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge. 20th-25th September, 1917

After the disappointing opening battles of the last day of July and the middle of August, when very little had been gained but at great cost in casualties, a new approach was adopted for the next offensive against the Gheluvelt plateau which began on 20th September and became known as the Battle of the Menin Road. The task was handed over to General Plumer, commander of the Second Army, a more cautious leader who, rather than try to drive as deep as possible into the German line, was an advocate of 'bite and hold' tactics with limited advances of no more than 1,500 yards, based on overwhelming firepower and exhaustive preparation. These new tactics, which were significantly aided by a period of warm, dry weather, worked well and September and early October saw a decisive phase of Third Ypres in which the British gained the upper hand. At the same time that Plumer’s Second Army were hammering away at the German defences on the Gheluvelt plateau, Fifth Army also attacked in the northern part of the Ypres salient and they too made gains.

On 20th September, 58th Division, made up of 2nd line London territorial battalions, were part of Fifth Army and as such attacked in the northern part of the battle front, with the objective of gaining a footing on the Gravenstafel and Poelcappelle spurs. At 5.40am, 2/4th London led the attack by 173 Brigade and advanced behind a fine protective artillery barrage for 1,000 yards. They soon captured the strongpoints on the western edge of the Gravenstafel spur and then went on to occupy Winnipeg cross roads. After the initial shock of the tremendous artillery barrage that had hit them, the German defenders began to put up a stiffer defence and 2/4th London, along with the other attacking battalions of the division had to fight off a number of counter attacks but none that seriously threatened their new positions. The battalion did experience some difficulties in capturing another enemy post at Schuler Farm. A platoon of roughly 40 men was sent to capture it but at first failed to do so. The accompanying tank got bogged down and was unable to assist and as they moved forward, a strong point with a machine-gun stopped them in their tracks killing all but seven men. It was not until the following day that Schuler Farm was captured by which time the battalion, along with the rest of 58th Division had taken all their objectives. The fighting continued throughout 21st September as the enemy attempted to claw back some of their losses but once again the British artillery kept them at bay and that evening, 2/4th London were relieved and moved back to Dambre Camp. There was a price to be paid in casualties for the success of the operation. Well over 200 officers and men from the battalion had been either killed, wounded or were missing over the two days, a figure that included Albert Rich who was killed on 20th September.